The Ballad of Mona Lisa
by Asphodel to Wormwood
Summary: All Rita wanted was the story, she had no idea what she was in for. Books far too high up a shelf and angry Slytherins. This could get exciting.
1. Part 1: Transfiguration and Hospitals

**Disclaimer: All things recognizable belong to J.K. Rowling, the only things I own are Elijah, Levana and Ariadne.**

**A/N This is pretty much outright AU, but only to a point where some happenings in the book are changed slightly.**

* * *

Sirius turned the collar of his muggle jacket up against the wind, cigarette in between his lips lit just a moment earlier by shaky hands. He was not going to look back at St. Mungo's. He was fully aware that he should not be smoking, as he had quit about four years previously, as a promise to her, but war screws everyone up, and he knew for a fact that this particular promise was okay to break, as several days earlier he had caught her smoking too. And today, he particularly needed the nicotine.

"Diggle wasn't kidding when he said you practically lived here these days." Scowling, Sirius turned to face Rita Skeeter, most annoying journalist on the planet.

"What do you want Skeeter? If it's to ask how I escaped Azkaban, you can forget about it, I'm not telling anyone, least of all you." He was exhausted, emotionally, mentally, and physically. He hadn't slept properly in three years. Not since she left him. Not since the fight. Even less since Azkaban.

"That's all died down in light of recent events, you know that? I'm here to talk to the man who almost singlehandedly allowed the darkest wizard of all time to prevail." Rita replied taking a sip of coffee she had gotten in Muggle London.

Sirius paused and inhaled the nicotine he had promised her he'd stay away from before they joined the war. He directed his attention towards a group of punk rockers walking into the disguised entrance of St. Mungo's. He gestured towards them, "They're the ones you should talk to, they were much closer to her than I was." A brief expression of pain shot across his face after the lie left his mouth. They understood her in a way he couldn't, he could've said that, because they believed her when she said she wasn't a Death Eater. He groaned inwardly remembering that day as it was clearly on of his top ten worst days of his life, tying with going to Azkaban and losing his best mate.

"Listen Black," Rita said sharply, "you know damn well that I want to speak to the man who drove Ariadne Romswell to this." She then gestured towards the disguised magical hospital. "And we both know that she wants to be heard this time."

After thinking for a moment, Sirius crushed the remains of his cigarette with the heel of his boot. "She prefers Carters, stay away from us." Then he walked back into St. Mungos.

* * *

A couple days after Rita's failed attempt at getting Sirius to speak with her about Ariadne Carters, she turned to people that had witnessed firsthand the story unfold. The culmination of her efforts led her to Remus Lupin and Levana Hewitt, respective best friends of Sirius Black and Ariadne Carters. An invitation to tea with the lovely Ms. Hewitt in hand, Rita made her way up the steps to a charming bungalow in a muggle suburb.

"Thank you for the invitation." Rita said upon entering Levana's home. A coat rack hopped forward and nuged Rita's shoulder.

"No need to be alarmed, it just wants to take your cloak." After depositing her green clock on the animated coat rack, Rita turned and flashed the witch with dirty blonde hair a dazzling smile, before being taken aback by the scarring on her face and premature streaks of grey in her hair. The other witch paid no mind to Rita's out right staring and gestured gracefully towards the stairs. "Remus is waiting in the upstairs sitting room. We can talk freely there."

A tentative first step onto the stairs solidified Rita's resolve to find the story and she bravely made her way up the stairs. Following Levana down the hall into a room with a fireplace. A man was sitting in a plush armchair near the fire, grey marring the mousy brown hair on his head. He sat there oblivious to the entrance of the two witches as he was gazing into the flames, perhaps searching for insight into his own existence. Remus looked up at the two witches in the doorway before saying "Let's get to it then."

Levana sat on the floor, leaning against the base of the chair Remus occupied. Rita, after taking the seat across from him, pulled a yellow legal pad that she had developed a fondness for out of her magically enlarged bag, and carefully extricated an acid green Quick Quotes Quill. "So what exactly led to Ariadne's supposed leap to the dark side?" Rita started off.

Levana and Remus shared a glance before Remus replied with, "The cookies." Which caused all three to grin slightly. "Seriously though, if you want the whole story, we're going to have to start it a lot earlier than that."

"How much earlier?" Rita asked cautiously.

Levana pursed her lips and thought for a moment then said, "Oh about second term of our sixth year?"

Remus nodded in agreement before adding for Rita's benefit, "That's when Sirius realized she existed."

"Do go on." Rita encouraged her Quick Quotes Quill at the ready.

* * *

Ariadne and Levana walked through a first floor corridor on their way to Transfiguration. Ariadne wore her hair in loose brunette waves in contrast to Levana's dirty blonde hair that had been cut short. It was Ariadne that spoke first. "Father was absolutely furious when he found out why I was taking the courses I am."

"And exactly what were they again?" the blonde witch paused before continuing. "Oh yes, all of them. I'm in Ravenclaw and I'm not taking that many classes. What are you doing, having an academic pissing contest with Lily Evans?"

The brunette sighed and shook her head exasperatedly. "Ana that's besides the point. Father thinks my career choice is too dangerous for a woman."

"Well it's not like you're chasing dragons." Levana replied sarcastically.

Ariadne stopped walking and gazed thoughtfully at the space in front of her. "That's not a bad idea, maybe he'd have an aneurysm and die." Levana stifled a laugh. "What? At the very least I'd get away from him."

The two witches laughed as the entered Professor McGonagall's classroom, attracting the attention of four young wizards in the back row. The boy sitting in the middle left chair raised his head from the table top and shook his somewhat long dark hair from his face. A lazy grin slid into place as he regarded the two witches a couple rows in front of him. If only they were facing him… "Eh Prongs, you know who those birds are?" He elbowed the boy sitting to his left.

The wizard, now identified as Prongs, glanced towards where his companion was looking. "Nope." He replied popping the 'p' sound.

"You're both daft." Said a boy to Prong's left. "Surely after stalking Lily for what, four years, you'd be able to recognize her best friends outside of Gryffindor." The boy had mousy brown hair, a shabby appearance and was looking expectantly at Prongs.

"You can't expect him to know absolutely everything Moony." The chubby boy on the first wizard who spoke's right chimed in.

Prongs was distracted by a blur of red hair rushing down the aisle to take the open seat on the blond witch's left. With the space on the right of the blonde taken already by the brunette, only the space next to the aisle was open. "And there's my darling Lilyflower." Prongs said loudly enough for the redhead to her.

A look of rage crossed Lily's face as she turned in her seat to snarl at Prongs. "I am not your darling anything." Moony outright laughed at James Potter's expense. Just then, the final member of the class entered. It was a wizard, from Slytherin.

"I don't understand women, mate." James complained to his best friend.

"I wouldn't suggest asking Black for help." The newcomer sneered. "When has he ever managed a relationship longer than a quick shag in a broom cupboard?"

"Move on, Greengrass, wouldn't want you to get whatever disease that ruined my so-called life as a 'respectable' pureblood." Sirius growled back.

"Elijah! You're on time today." The brunette exclaimed happily. Elijah Greengrass looked towards her and smiled.

"Ariadne! You're not wearing your tie around your head." Elijah mocked as she grinned widely back.

"Shut up and sit your ass down Greengrass." The blonde demanded.

Elijah rolled his eyes and his grin softened to a playful smirk. "As you wish Lady Levana." And then he traversed the two rows to the open seat right next to Lily Evans.

Needless to say, James spent the entire lesson fuming.


	2. Part 2: Shelves and Bumbling Baboons

Rita paused, confused by the relations of everyone in the story. Remus responded with something upon the lines of this being practically history, not a fairy tale told to children before bed and to let them tell the story in chronological order. A knock sounded on the front door and Levana rose to see who it was. Rita hoped to Merlin that Black hadn't found out about this meeting and came to kill her. "So are you two together?" Rita asked attempting to make small talk.

Remus floundered about before answering, "Merlin no, she'd be the death of me." Thus, an awkward silence fell over the pair and they found themselves gazing into the flames in the fireplace, hopelessly at loss for words. Fortunately Levana reentered the room and retook her place at Remus' feet; a chocolate haired man in tow took up residence directly next to the fireplace. Rita gave him a cursory glance before deciding he was attractive enough and demanded to know who the hell he was.

"Elijah Greengrass, Curse-Breaker." The pureblood answered.

"He's Ariadne's closest friend, they'd tell each other everything." Levana added helpfully.

"That and if she wasn't with other people she was usually with him." Remus finished. "And he was the only one of us who knew exactly what happened next in the story. Everything we heard was a rumour, and none of them ever told us straightly what happened."

* * *

A very tense lesson in Transfiguration passed and soon both groups of friends split up to go to their respective classes. Lily, Levana and Remus started on the five flights of stairs they'd have to walk up to get to Arithmancy. James and Peter walked down the last bit of the Grand Staircase to the Entrance Hall where they would enter the grounds and head for the greenhouses. And Elijah, Ariadne and Sirius walked towards the library, the Hufflepuff and Slytherin to work on an essay for Potions on the twelve uses of Dragon's blood, the arrogant Gryffindor to keep up with the brunette witch that had captured his attention , how he didn't know. And to keep tabs on his new enemy Elijah.

Sirius was following far enough behind not to be seen but close enough to hear their whole conversation.

"So, is a power struggle going to happen every time you enter the same room as them?" Ariadne asked bumping her shoulder against Elijah's.

"Do I have detention? No, so shut up and put your tie on." Ariadne rolled her eyes and tugged a tie from her bag and tied around her head in the style of a headband, then rearranged her hair around it. Elijah smiled. "Much better, I hear that you're taking the absence of familial support well."

"You know as well as I do that my father won't be happy until I'm married to some 'decent' bloke from a pureblood family. Maybe we should just get married and he can live on in self-gratification." The last comment was said in a light teasing tone. Elijah smirked slightly.

"No, I may not have been disowned but your father thinks that I'm no better than Black. I'm just more discrete about how I voice my distaste."

"Yeah, anonymous founder, president and financier of the E.W.E., Elven Welfare Embassy. Like that'll take off, just wait in like twenty years it'll come about again." Ariadne replied. This revelation was confusing to Sirius. Elijah was a Greengrass, from a family of Slytherins, was a Slytherin, but here was some bizarre level of depth that wouldn't be typical of the ideal Slytherin.

Elijah chuckled quietly as they entered the library and passed Madame Pince at the front desk. " So usual spot?" He asked in a whisper. Ariadne nodded and they wound their way through the maze of bookshelves.

"Have you heard from Severus since start of term?" Ariadne asked almost inaudibly. How did they know Snape? Greengrass he could understand after all they were in the same House, but the Hufflepuff?

"No," Elijah replied. "I'm worried about him. Last week after curfew I saw hanging around with _them._"

"Are you sure? You weren't mistaken?"

"I'm positive." Elijah confirmed. Ariadne paused in her walk between bookshelves.

"Do you realize what this means?" She asked.

"Yeah, I do. Constant Vigilance and all that." Elijah answered with a wave of his hand.

"I know we've got a handle on things here but, if they get worse, Merlin I won't forgive myself if some first year gets hurt in the crossfire." Elijah merely nodded and they finished their walk in silence leaving Sirius to wonder what they were talking about.

The secretive pair reached a table far from the entrance of this grand hall of wisdom and took seats across from each other while Sirius remained in the shadows to lurk, something he thought only Snape to be capable of. Minutes passed then Ariadne leaned across the table to mutter something to Elijah, who in turn rolled his eyes and nodded. Ariadne left the table and wound her way back into the maze of shelves.

He almost lost her a couple times but soon found her at the edge of the Restricted Section. She was attempting to reach a book on a shelf a bit too high for her. Sirius watched her attempts, allowing his eyes to wander across her figure with the same lazy grin that had graced his face earlier in class. Ariadne stood at the foot of a bookshelf, glaring up at the book that mocked her. She was aware the shelves were enchanted to not topple over, but given the circumstances and her poor decision to wear a skirt today instead of trousers she wasn't going to risk scaling the shelf.

Sirius took his chance, stepping up behind her placing one hand against the bookshelf and used the other to take the book down from its lofty throne. The momentum of his actions brought him forward enough for his chest to brush against her back. He pulled the book down so it was reachable for her, the girl whose name he didn't even know. He leant forward again and brushed his lips against her ear as he whispered, "This what you're lookin' for?"

Startled, Ariadne snatched the book from his grasp and shoved Sirius away and tore back into the maze to where Elijah was waiting. Sirius decided, at that moment that a confrontation with Elijah Greengrass was something he wasn't looking forward to and disappeared down an aisle towards the entrance.

"Elijah. 'Lijah." Ariadne sing-songed lightly when she made it back to where he was sitting, somewhat out of breath.

"If this is about it burning, relax, it'll pass it always does." He said without looking up from his parchment. Whatever it was, Ariadne would say it anyway, probably overly exaggerated.

"What so your best friend practically was being molested by a bloody idiot is less important than an essay that isn't due 'til next week and of which one of the only books on the subject is just out of reach?" Ariadne demanded setting the book down gently so as not to draw the presence of Madame Pince.

"And which 'bloody idiot' was it exactly?" Elijah sighed setting his quill down. He unceremoniously dumped his things into his bag and stood grabbing hers in the process.

"Lily's idiot's best friend." Elijah froze, a scowl making its way to permanence on his face.

"He's gone too far."

"Why exactly do you hate him again?" Ariadne asked.

"That's not important. What's important is that after I find him, there won't be enough of his fucking body to serve detention." Elijah shoved her bag at her which she scrabbled with to get a decent hold on it, then swept out of the library accompanied by a bell signifying dinner and Ariadne scrambling to keep up with him.

Sirius was holding court at the Gryffindor table when Elijah slammed burst through the doors. Fear flashed onto Sirius' face before being replaced with resolve. Greengrass wasn't going to kill him without dying himself first.

Elijah didn't bother with an explanation, he just swung hard with his left fist making audible contact with Sirius' face. An eerie hush fell over the hall, Elijah slipped his bag off his shoulder and let it rest next to Lily's.

The next few minutes were much too rushed for anyone here to understand what was going on, one thing the people did know was that the two enemies didn't bother with their wands. The brawl was halted with a spell from McGonagall.

"I don't suppose either of you will tell me what that childish display was about?" She looked between the two who were now breathing heavily, but neither said a word. She shook her head, disappointed in the both of them. "I expected better of the both of you. Detention and twenty points from both your Houses." She walked away muttering something about bumbling baboons.

* * *

Rita sucked mindlessly on the end of her quill. "Was the detention worth it?" She finally asked.

Elijah grinned somewhat evilly. "Every minute."

* * *

**A/N Whoa... fight and a little bit of bizarrely one-sided Sirius/OC action... Fun Fact: My favorite character so far is Elijah because his life has a bit more going on than Sirius thinks. And what was with that bizarre conversation about Severus? What does he have to do with anything? So what I want to know because I know people are reading this is who your favorite character is so far and why? And what your opinion on Rita being somewhat involved is.**


	3. Interlude: Feels Like the First Time

Sirius leaned back in the chair St. Mungo's had provided. He didn't bother with charming the chair more comfortable, as in the back of his mind, this in combination with watching Ariadne waste away was penance. Closing his eyes, he remembered the fateful detention as vividly as he always had. 'Remember, remember the fifteenth of January.' He thought ironically.

* * *

They were in the library as they had been earlier that day. The girl with no name was trapped yet again between his arms, his mouth brushed against her ear as he deposited the book he had claimed for her on the shelf in front of them. With a now free hand, he gingerly pulled her hair to one side and swept his lips down the column of her throat to its base. He bit down, tugging her body closer to his.

She sank against the solidity of his chest and sighed when his fingertips brushed against the tender mark he left on her skin. The hand, now level with her waist, shifted to the edge of her school blouse, a growl leaving his mouth as his usually nimble fingers struggled with the stubborn button. Frustrated, he pulled away only to spin her about to face him. With this new perspective, he easily removed the buttons from their homes and pushed her shirt off her shoulders to gather at her elbows. He pressed a surprisingly chaste kiss to her lips before pulling away to see the beautiful creature that hindrance of a shirt was hiding. His gaze met her honey brown eyes before wandering to her mouth that was his to claim, down to his mark he left, to-

Sirius bolted awake, gasping for air. Surely that not so chance meeting in the library hadn't affected him this strongly.

"Um Padfoot." Sirius looked at Peter who had entered the room nearly a minute before he woke.

"What Wormtail?" He barked then flushed with embarrassment as Peter gestured to Sirius' lower body.

"I thought you said you hadn't dreamt like that since third year?" Up until now, just before his detention, that had been true.

This was just bloody fantastic. "Wormtail, you have two seconds to run."

* * *

Sirius turned his gaze to the young witch in the bed. He stood and crossed the room in two strides, then took one of her hands in his. He brushed the hair away from his face and pressed a kiss to both her forehead and the tip of her nose, but never her lips. He didn't deserve them.

**A/N So today we have both young and old(er) Sirius... how interesting... but really I'm not sure if I like this, but the real question is did you? I know that people are reading and I'd like to thank MsTonksLupin for being my only reviewer (so far). I'd really appreciate this and I'll probably throw in more goodies like this Interlude for reviews...**


	4. Part 3: Enemies and Detention

The House of Gryffindor returned to their tower hoping for a peaceful end to a thoroughly Black-centric drama filled day.

-Earlier that Day-

Hogwarts' beloved Marauders entered the Great Hall, looking as if they owned the room, around seven thirty for a hopefully uneventful breakfast. As per usual Peter was stuffing his face, and James was preening for when Lily arrived, and Sirius was engaged in a riveting staring contest with current enemy, Elijah from across the Hall. However, the strains of sharing a dorm with the other Marauders had taken its toll on poor Remus, and he, not being a morning person at all, was glowering at everyone within eyeshot. Ten minutes into an awkward breakfast and Sirius' staring contest, an extremely skinny, petite blonde with watery blue eyes from Ravenclaw approached the section of the Gryffindor table, that on mornings such as these was generally avoided.

Remus glared at her as if it were her fault James had decided everyone needed to be awake at 'Too Early For Remus To Give A Fuck about Anyone's Feelings O'clock. ' The blonde shuddered under Remus' murderous gaze and slipped to sit between James and Sirius.

"Siri, I think we need to talk." She said timidly. Sirius didn't reply, as there was no way Greengrass was going to win this time. "Sirius?" she asked only to be ignored. Five minutes of the girl trying to get Sirius' attention and him ignoring her passed, and finally Remus with severely frayed nerves due to a looming essay, little sleep and the absence of decent coffee snapped.

"Isn't it obvious he's done with you!" Remus shouted. "Merlin, you'd think a Ravenclaw would catch on sooner, but no! Why were you even sorted into it when you can't even tell when your flimsy relationship is over!" The witch's eyes had filled with tears, but Remus continued on. "He's bored with you, and it's only been a day. You guys are over. Done. Finished." The girl, unable to take anymore of Remus' verbal abuse, ran back to where her friends were waiting to comfort her at Ravenclaw's table. It seemed that all of Hogwarts knew of what had just occurred since Remus hadn't bothered to keep his voice down. McGonagall approached the seething Remus, confused James and Peter, and the oblivious Sirius.

"Mr. Lupin, you are a Prefect. One would think that responsibility would have forced your friends to behave better, but it appears to have the opposite effect. Twenty points from Gryffindor for your untactful conduct. I'll see you in detention at eight this evening." And then she strode back to Head Table and took her seat next to Dumbledore.

James and Peter stared at Remus like he had just proclaimed that he was Voldemorte's son and had loved Slughorn since forever. Then a girl from Hufflepuff with dark brown hair walked up to Elijah, the Slytherin looked away from Sirius, and as proof of how oblivious Sirius could be, Sirius leapt from his seat and proceeded to celebrate his victory in the aftermath of Remus' rampage. And the rest of the school looked on.

* * *

Rita looked at Remus astonished. "You broke up with Sirius' girlfriend?" She asked incredulously.

"And Sirius didn't even notice." Elijah affirmed before pouring himself a cup of tea, why not have tea, it is the pretense they were under for being there.

Levana, however, defended Remus. "It wasn't his fault. He shouldn't have been up that early anyway." Remus agreed and numbly sipped his tea, he really shouldn't be away from Nymphadora for too long, though he had left a note, so she shouldn't be worrying about him just yet.

"And there was no coffee that morning." Remus said quietly.

* * *

-Presently in the Tower-

The collective hopes of all Gryffindor were dashed upon entering the portrait hole. It appeared that Sirius had finally lost all hope at sanity. Sirius Black had Peter Pettigrew cornered.

"Take it back." Sirius roared at the cowering form of Peter. Peter, who had seen James and Remus enter, attempted to scurry over to where they were standing to hide. But the sudden force of Sirius' body weight sent both boys flying to the ground.

"I didn't mean it, it just slipped out." The chubby boy said scared out of his mind.

Remus glared at Sirius, blaming him for his detention. Really, why couldn't Sirius date people (like you could call it dating) with a brain for once? "You're going to make us late."

Sirius looked up at one of his dearest friends confused. "Late for what?" He asked.

Remus rolled his eyes before seizing the back of Sirius' shirt and hauling him off of poor Peter. "Detention, you know, that thing we have to be at in ten minutes."

Sirius was confused, no shock there, but since when did Remus get detention all on his own? Remus glared at him when he asked why he had detention. "Because Sirius, do you not know what all went on at breakfast?"

"I know I finally won that staring contest."

"And people actually find you attractive." Remus muttered to himself, dragging Sirius out the portrait hole and down the Grand Staircase to the first floor where Professor McGonagall's office was located. "So why were you about to kill Wormtail?"

Sirius turned a brilliantly unattractive shade of pink before grumbling about it not being anyone's business. Finally, they reached McGonagall's office. Inside they met Elijah who, though sporting a black eye and a bruise spreading across the left side of his face, looked just as composed as he always did.

"Now that we're all here," She looked stonily at Remus and Sirius, "we can get started. Since you two think it's all in good sport to be fighting in the style of muggles, the pair of you will be cleaning the Owlery. Mr. Lupin you shall be joining them this evening, and I hope to never have to give you another detention." The professor stood and led the trio out the door, down the stairs, through the entrance hall and out on to the grounds. "You will not be allowed to use magic, Mr. Filch was kind enough to bring cleaning supplies out earlier this evening, and I will know if you attempt to use magic." They were wise enough not to question how she'd know if they did use magic. "I'll be down to check your progress in two hours.

The three slunk into the Owlery, and Elijah and Remus immediately snatched a bucket, which filled with water, and a brush for scrubbing. A grey speckled owl flew down to rest on Elijah's shoulder and nipped affectionately on his ear. "Not now Iris, I have detention." He muttered to the owl.

Sirius, bored within the first minute attempted to start a conversation with Remus, but failed as the bookish Marauder was currently ignoring him. "I don't think he wants to talk to you." Elijah said after noticing. Sirius ignored him and to pass the time, began to sing muggle songs he knew, loudly and out of key. Once McGonagall came to fetch them, Remus and Elijah had all but flung themselves from the tower in an effort to get away.

* * *

"Did you really try to kill yourself that detention?" Levana asked Elijah who sipped on his tea.

"I wanted to."

"It couldn't possibly have been that bad." Rita said, glancing between the two wizards.

"You're right." Remus replied. "It was much worse."

* * *

**A/N First of all, I would like to apologize for my absence, I had been cut off from the internet, determining what their detention would be, and actually starting a new story that has yet to be typed. So, you know that box for reviews, why don't you lot type something there and hit the blue button? It's not like you'll be hauled off to Azkaban for it...**


	5. Part 5: Moony's Plot and Intrigue

Sirius and Remus returned to Gryffindor Tower in silence. Remus figured that Sirius' not normally awful singing voice was revenge for his earlier treatment of the older wizard, by hauling him down six flights of stairs and several corridors.

"You know what I've noticed about Thing One?" Sirius said making yet another attempt at conversation with Moony.

Remus sighed, realizing that there was no way for him to continue ignoring Sirius, as Sirius would do anything other than give up. "Why do you insist on calling them that? It's no secret to anyone else that when you're not here or in public, you're one of their best friends."

"Because, dear Moony, I am in public, therefore he is my enemy. And you didn't guess." Sirius said disappointed.

Remus glanced at him and rounded a corner. "I dunno, is he taller?"

"Why are we going this way?" Sirius asked looking around a vaguely familiar corridor. "And no, that's not it at all."

Remus shrugged. "You got me. I brought you here because no one will hear you scream when I kill you. But really, what have you noticed about Elijah?"

"I knew you've been out to get me since we met." Sirius replied jokingly. "Their sister hasn't been here since start of term. I think it's destroyed his whole outlook on life." Remus was silent for several moments. Sirius was right, he hadn't noticed the third Greengrass sibling at all since the winter holidays had begun and they were already two weeks into the new term. It would also explain why Sirius was acting out so, drastically. It wasn't common knowledge that Sirius' identity as Hogwarts' resident ladies' man only really displayed itself when he was under extreme duress; such as but not including OWLs in fifth year. It also wasn't commonly known that Sirius actually enjoyed the company of the Greengrass triplets, as he put it 'they were rather normalish, given their bloodlines' much like Sirius himself.

"You could always write him and ask? Use one of the school owls or something." Remus suggested. Sirius actually stopped in the middle of the hall to consider what Remus had said.

* * *

**(A/N) Hey guys, I'm off hiatus and now I can give this my full attention.**

"You're right." He said slowly before continuing down the corridor that he now recognized, heading towards the dungeons. "Remus, I want you and the others to scour the Map, I want to know if she's actually here and just avoiding us or not. Then if she really is gone, I want you to enlist Frank and Alice to ask around to find out if anyone knows what's going on."

"And what will you be doing, dear Captain Padfoot?" Remus asked semi-mockingly.

"There are a few people in the circles the Greengrasses travel in that still talk to me. I'm going to go talk to some of them now."

"Well don't get yourself killed or anything." Remus called after him.

"I won't." Sirius shouted back.

"So, who was this person Sirius wanted to talk to so badly? Is she another of his love interests?"

"No." Remus said sipping at his tea. "Ariadne was definitely the love of his life, he would never betray her like that."

Sirius was standing at the blank stretch of wall that concealed the Slytherin Common Room. He was waiting for some hapless young Slytherin to walk past to let him into the metaphorical lion's den. He waited for several minutes and then, a hapless first year walked down the dungeon corridor to the common room and all its Slytherins.

"Oi you." He shouted at the poor young Slytherin.

The small boy trembled at the force of Sirius' voice, however then realized that it was simply a Gryffindor standing outside his Common Room like it wasn't the strangest thing to happen.

"What do you want?" the second year asked cooly.

"I want the Greengrasses, and I want them out here now, no questions asked." Sirius replied in that condescending tone he uses when talking to James about Lily.

"What's in it for me?"

Then before the second year knew it, he was on his way through the common room and up the stairs to the sixth year boys' dormitory.

"'Scuse me," the boy said to the dark room. The clinking of glass was heard next, and soon the future patriarch of the Greengrass family emerged. "Sirius Black's looking for you outside."

The figure cloaked in shadows soon joined Sirius outside the portrait hole. "I assume you wanted to talk about Delilah?" it said.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "For a quidditch captain you don't get out much, Ash."

'Ash' shrugged before answering, "She's in St. Mungo's if that's what you want to know. Had an episode over break, mum pitched a fit over it. Right in the middle of the Christmas Ball thing she has every year."

"Why wasn't I invited?" Sirius asked.

"Why do you think you weren't asked? I'm not Elijah and I'm sure as hell not Delilah, remember that. You might be their friend, but the chances of you being mine are very slim."

"We used to be close, what happened to that?" Sirius pleaded with the Slytherin who was about to reenter his common room.

"You got my baby sister attacked. Delilah will always be my baby sister." And with that 'Ash' left Sirius to ponder what it meant, exactly to have a baby sister.

Rita looked at Elijah with big eyes, "You mean there are more of you?"

Elijah grinned at her, "We were kind of a big deal back then, being pureblood twins and all that."

Remus rolled his eyes before scooping up the tea tray and carrying it away.

"We don't talk about my sister, do you understand that?" Elijah asked, leaning forward, elbows on knees. "Or my brother for that matter."

"Why not?" Rita demanded.

"Because it simply isn't done."

* * *

**A/N: I'm back off of hiatus. I can now give this my full attention, don't forget to review!**


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